can i marry girlfrend on a visitor visa (tourist)

[jose34]

hi guys 

 

has anybody got married on a UK visit visa? 

 

so am i right in thinking that ill need a fiance visa to get married and then get a spouce visa + NHS health surcharge 

 

says cant intend on getting married on a UK tourist visa or any other visa other than a fiance visa but can apply for both fiance and spouse visa inside or outside the UK... so must be possible to change visitor visa to spouse visa?

 

 

thanxs in advance

[Elad]

You can't get married on a standard visit visa, but you can if you apply for a marriage visitor visa, and it costs the same as a standard one and is valid for up to six months.

https://www.gov.uk/marriage-visa

 

Once married your partner will have to go back to their home country before they can apply for a spouse visa.

[Crossy]

25 minutes ago, Elad said:

You can't get married on a standard visit visa,

 

Yeah it was stopped back in 2005 or so, we just scraped in when we married in November 2004.

 

In hindsight it would have been better to get married in Thailand, less hassle getting the paperwork in order for marriage extensions.

[pagan1]

4 hours ago, Crossy said:

 

Yeah it was stopped back in 2005 or so, we just scraped in when we married in November 2004.

 

In hindsight it would have been better to get married in Thailand, less hassle getting the paperwork in order for marriage extensions.

 

What extra hassle ? Once you have your Certified Marriage Licence from MFA the renewal paperwork is exactly the same as if you married in Thailand year after year. If you want to be picky you could argue that there are two extra pages to photocopy but I hardly call that hassle !!

<flame removed>

Edited November 10, 2020 by Crossy

[Tagged]

4 hours ago, Crossy said:

 

Yeah it was stopped back in 2005 or so, we just scraped in when we married in November 2004.

 

In hindsight it would have been better to get married in Thailand, less hassle getting the paperwork in order for marriage extensions.

Could be a hassle if divorce! If only need to register in uk, register in uk only! 

[Crossy]

12 minutes ago, pagan1 said:

Once you have your Certified Marriage Licence from MFA

 

That extra hassle, caused by the fact that all your UK docs need to be attested in the UK and then certified by Thai embassy in London, then translated here before the MFA will look at it. Luckily it's a one off.

 

You also have to go to your local ampur office and convert that MFA documentation into a KR22 which is what the immigration chaps are expecting.

 

I've been assisting a friend with this process (not helped by him being pretty useless too). He may soon be an ex-friend.

 

I agree, once it's done it's done.

 

[Pib]

Yea...once you get your foreign marriage registered in Thailand then getting a KR22 when needed (like for an annual marriage extension renewal) is no harder than getting a KR2 for marriages that occurred in Thailand.

 

It's just that initial obstacle course of getting your foreign marriage legalized/translated/registered in Thailand....a one off as Crossy said.

[LawrenceN]

10 hours ago, Crossy said:

 

Yeah it was stopped back in 2005 or so, we just scraped in when we married in November 2004.

 

In hindsight it would have been better to get married in Thailand, less hassle getting the paperwork in order for marriage extensions.

Us, too. Married in January 1988. Had a big reception at a nice hotel, then went to register the marriage a couple of days later. Stupid cow at BangKapi office thought she was gonna give us a hard time with no legal reason. You all know the drill. But the young fellow at the next desk knew me. Seems I had a hand in training him in a youth program when I was a consultant four years earlier. He even had a photo of him and me under the glass sheet covering his desk. He showed the spiteful crone the photo. It didn't hurt that my wife's cousin had the big office upstairs. My wife politely inquired if he was in that day. God, did Mrs. Cow back down fast with a lame excuse. 

[jose34]

19 hours ago, Elad said:

You can't get married on a standard visit visa, but you can if you apply for a marriage visitor visa, and it costs the same as a standard one and is valid for up to six months.

https://www.gov.uk/marriage-visa

 

Once married your partner will have to go back to their home country before they can apply for a spouse visa.

 

hi thanx for your reply.... but still confused sorry!!! thai lawyer said immigration fee for fiance visa is £1500? whats the difference between the marriage and fiance visa?

[Elad]

1 hour ago, jose34 said:

hi thanx for your reply.... but still confused sorry!!! thai lawyer said immigration fee for fiance visa is £1500? whats the difference between the marriage and fiance visa?

For the marriage visit visa, once you are married your wife will have to go back to Thailand to apply for settlement visa.

The fiancé visa is part of a settlement visa and once you are married your wife can then apply for further leave to remain (FLR) and she can apply within the UK, so she doesn't need to go back to Thailand.

 

The fiancé visa is around £1,500 and you will have to pay another £1,500 (for FLR) after six months, plus the NHS surcharge on top of that.  

[brewsterbudgen]

7 hours ago, Elad said:

For the marriage visit visa, once you are married your wife will have to go back to Thailand to apply for settlement visa.

The fiancé visa is part of a settlement visa and once you are married your wife can then apply for further leave to remain (FLR) and she can apply within the UK, so she doesn't need to go back to Thailand.

 

The fiancé visa is around £1,500 and you will have to pay another £1,500 (for FLR) after six months, plus the NHS surcharge on top of that.  

 

And for a Settlement visa it's also necessary for her to pass the A1 or B1 English test. 

[7by7]

If you want to marry in the UK, you have two choices.

 

1)  Marriage visitor visa.

 

As others have said, this allows her to enter the UK for the marriage, but she will have to leave the UK when or before the visa expires. It cannot be extended nor converted to settlement. It's not really suitable if you intend to live together in the UK after the marriage.

 

2) Fiance visa. See "If you’re applying as a fiancé, fiancée or proposed civil partner" at Family visas: apply, extend or switch for the requirements specific to this. See also that link for the requirements applicable to all applicants.

 

Personally, under normal circumstances, unless you have a definite reason for marrying in the UK instead of Thailand I'd recommend marrying in Thailand and she then applying as your spouse; see "Apply as a partner or spouse" on that link. The cost of your return flight to Thailand etc. will often be less than the cost of the extra Leave to Remain application a fiance visa involves.

 

Of course, these are not normal circumstances! It's currently a lot easier for her to enter the UK, once she has a visa, than for you to enter Thailand!

 

However, if you are already there.....

[jose34]

thanxs to you all... few more questions if you wouldnt mind helping me with please and btw im in the uk but totally agree with 7by7 on marrying in los 

 

whats the timescale once married to getting FLR?

 

civil partnership vs marriage whats the difference? 

 

basically how long would it take for her to be able to work in the uk?

[7by7]

20 minutes ago, jose34 said:

whats the timescale once married to getting FLR?

 

If entering on a fiance visa, then you must marry and she apply for FLR within the 6 months life of the visa; otherwise she will have to leave the UK. 

 

According to UKVI's service standards her FLR application should take no more than 8 weeks to process. (Unless you're prepared to pay £500 extra for the priority service or £800 extra for the super priority service!) But once the FLR application is submitted her fiance visa will be automatically extended until the FLR application is decided.

 

22 minutes ago, jose34 said:

civil partnership vs marriage whats the difference? 

 

It used to be that only men and women could marry in the UK and only same sex couples could enter into a civil partnership. But that has now changed (or in Northern Ireland will change on 7/12/20). So these days, not a lot of difference except for the procedure.

 

See Marriage and civil partnership in England and Wales. Note that the rules are essentially the same in Scotland. From 7/12/20 that will also be the case in Northern Ireland.

 

Note also that a UK marriage between a male and female is recognised everywhere, whereas a UK same sex marriage or UK civil partnership are both recognised in some countries, but not all. 

 

Remember that the requirements for giving notice of registering a marriage or civil partnership for people under immigration control differ depending on which part of the UK you are in; check with your local registry office.

 

29 minutes ago, jose34 said:

basically how long would it take for her to be able to work in the uk?

 

Once she has been granted FLR she will be issued with a Biometric Residence Permit. Once she has this she can work in the UK.

[jose34]

thank you 7by7 

[Jebs]

Hi, can I add/ask further...?

My gf is half Thai/Burmese (on a Myanmar passport) and living with Thai relatives for years, doing visa runs.

We had hoped to get married this year in UK (she to travel on fiance visa) and she was going to go back to 

Myanmar for the application process as that's her 'home'.

She is now 'stuck' in Thailand, can't get back into Myanmar(?) and I can't travel to marry her there. So we're at a bit of a loss as to what to do next. 

Any advice would be more than helpful. Thanks in advance.

[theoldgit]

12 hours ago, Jebs said:

She is now 'stuck' in Thailand, can't get back into Myanmar(?) and I can't travel to marry her there. So we're at a bit of a loss as to what to do next. 

Any advice would be more than helpful. Thanks in advance.

 

She can apply in Thailand, though I'd personally wait until things settle down over there.